Divisions and Conflicts Between the Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus

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The Greek Coup

By 1971, Makarios became more of a problem than an aid to enosis. There were attempts, by Greece, to remove him from power, but his popularity in Cyprus was too strong. On July 15, 1974, there was a coup led by Nikos Sampson, also known as `hammer of the Turks’. He overthrew Makarios who ended up fleeing the island by going through the British base (Ince, 1974 Greek Coup d'etat & Turkish Intervention , 2013). He was asked by the Greek military in staging this successful coup (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2006).

The Turkish Invasion

The preamble to the Hague Convention of 1954 says, “Damage to the cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind” (Zaphirou, 2009). The invasion occurred on July 20, 1974. Turkey’s reason for the invasion was the coup. Turkey took over 36.2% of the island. 200,000 Greek Cypriots were forced to leave their homes, unable to return to this day. In the midst of the invasion, 3,000 people were killed and there are still 1,400 people unaccounted for, missing. Even some of the Turkish Cypriots were forced to move. They were mainly forced to move to Europe but were also sometimes sent to other places. The settlers that came with the invasion outnumbered the amount of Turkish Cypriots already there. There was about two settlers per Turkish Cypriot (Miltiadou, 2012, p. 56). The people were separated by race and religion, two different cultures and two different beliefs were forced to be distinguished and separated, when they had previously been living well together, separation was not the answers to the problems (Zaphirou, 2009).

An attempt was made to take away all Greek and Christian influence from the now Turkish side of the isl...

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...osia: Press and Information Office, Republic of Cyprus.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2006). History of Cyprus. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from High comission of the republic of cyprus in Canberra: http://www.mfa.gov.cy/mfa/highcom/highcomcanberra.nsf/cyprus02_en/cyprus02_en?OpenDocument

Morley, N. (2014, February 11). Cyprus peace talks resume after two-year break. Retrieved from Deutsche Welle: http://www.dw.de/cyprus-peace-talks-resume-after-two-year-break/a-17424693

Sentürk, Y. (2013, March 18). Ottoman period. Retrieved March 8, 2014, from Cyprus history: http://cypnet.co.uk/ncyprus/history/ottoman/index.html

Sentürk, Y. (2013, March 18). Republic of Cyprus. Retrieved from Cyprus History: http://cypnet.co.uk/ncyprus/history/republic/index.html

Zaphirou, L. (2009). The Loss of a Civilization. Nicosia: Press and Information Office of the Republic of Cyprus.

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